Rum Returns to Bourbon Country

By RENEE KIENTZ |
July 14, 2011
| Updated: September 26, 2012 10:12pm

An old cotton warehouse has become the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery. Bryan Carroll is the master distiller. Rum, ready for tasting.

Photo By Renee Kientz

An old cotton warehouse has become the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery. Bryan Carroll is the master distiller. Rum, ready for tasting.

Photo By Renee Kientz

An old cotton warehouse has become the Old New Orleans Rum Distillery. Bryan Carroll is the master distiller. Rum, ready for tasting.

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TAKE A TRIP

IF YOU GO

Tours of the Old New Orleans Rum distillery, 2815 Frenchmen, are offered Mondays-Saturdays. $10.

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NEW ORLEANS - In bourbon country, they call it "angel's share," the sweet scent of aged liquor evaporating through oak barrels. A similar seductive fragrance meets your nose at the threshold of the Old New Orleans Rum distillery.

Tour director Bob Songy is an affable man who knows how to get the party started: He hands you a cool cup of Southern sweet tea spiked with ONO spiced rum. During the 45-minute tour, Songy will explain the distilling process, tell you that ONO rum begins with sugar cane grown nearby and show you how bottles are filled, labeled and sealed. Back in the tasting room, Songy will serve up sips from the ONO lineup. Crystal, the clear, un-aged rum, is surprisingly smooth and almost buttery; it's the one you'd use for mixed drinks. Amber, whose color matches its name, is mellower, aged for three years.

ONO Spiced rum is the distillery's most popular product, beating out the better-known Captain Morgan in international competitions. Crystal, Amber and Spiced rums are all available in and outside of Louisiana (including at Spec's in Houston), but ONO's blue label 10-Year rum can only be sampled, and purchased, at the distillery itself.

ONO Rum's master distiller, Bryan Carroll, says the distillery works closely with New Orleans chefs, such as Jamie Shannon of noted Commander's Palace, and with bartenders to develop recipes and ways to showcase rum. He'll have a chance this week (July 20-24) to spread the word to bartenders from around the U.S. and beyond as they descend on New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail.